Last updated on February 17th, 2025 at 03:34 am
Want to learn how to write high-converting copy for landing pages?
Then you’ve come to the right place!
I have almost a decade of experience as a copywriter and, in this guide, I’m going to give you 8 of my most sure-fire tips for turning visitors into customers.
Eight tips, in particular.
Let’s dive right in!
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1. Know the Target Market
This isn’t a list of commandments.
But if it was, this would be the first.
You’re copywriting. Which means you want people in a specific target market to take a specific action.
And you have no chance of that if you don’t know who you’re talking to.
Imagine trying to convince the most beautiful person in the world to go on a date with you by talking to them on the phone… but they aren’t going to respond or give you an answer until you’re completely finished making your argument of why they should go out with you.
If you don’t know anything about their personality, or what they like or dislike, then your chances are just up to luck.
The same is true when you’re copywriting.
Before you write a single sentence, you should be capable of answering all of these questions with crystal-clear clarity:
- Who am I trying to reach with this landing page?
- What is their emotional state before they read my landing page?
- What action do I want them to take after reading it?
- Why will they read my copy?
- What are they struggling with that they want to be solved?
- How am I going to help them?
Not able to answer all of those questions?
Here are some ways you can learn about your target market:
- Read reviews and testimonials from your customers.
- Talk to people in the industry – see what they like and don’t like about competitors’ products/services.
- Research popular topics related to your target market (like blogs, forums, etc.).
- Use social media channels to engage with potential customers and answer their questions.
- Ask your existing customers about their needs and wants.
- Monitor trends in the industry to identify new opportunities for your products/services.
Once you have gathered enough information, you can use it to craft a compelling landing page message tailored to your target audience. It should reflect their struggles, needs, and desires.
It’s a good idea to create a customer avatar. Give them a name. Outline who they are and what they want in detail. Then filter your copy by putting yourself in their shoes. After they read your copy, would they buy what you’re offering?
2. Study the Jargon
I remember when I used to rock climb competitively in high school. At the climbing gym, you could almost instantly tell someone who was in from someone who was out.
Not just by how they climbed.
But by how they talked.
They’d call the holds ‘grips’ or the routes ‘paths’. They also wouldn’t know to call big leaps ‘dynos’ or the hardest part of a route the ‘crux’. And they definitely wouldn’t know the different names of the holds: such as ‘slopers’, ‘crimps’, and ‘jugs’.
Within just a few moments of conversation, the way they would talk about climbing was a dead giveaway as to whether they actually knew what they were talking about or not.
Now imagine if someone was trying to sell me climbing shoes and they used the wrong terms…
This is why it’s so important to know your target market.
Not just who they are and what they want… but how they talk.
Because if you don’t know the jargon they use and how to use it correctly, then they’ll immediately know you’re not a part of their club — and you’ll lose a ton of trust.
You want to study the way your target market talks, learn their jargon, and use that appropriately on your landing page.
If you’re writing to a market that is new to you… beware.
It’s easy to think you know the jargon but you actually don’t.
Here are some ideas for learning about the way your target market speaks…
- Talk To Them — This is by far the best way to learn about and internalize the language of your target market. Talk to them about the niche. Ask them questions, say things, and allow them to correct you, encourage them to explain their problems to you in their own words. The phrases they use are a gold mine of copywriting potential.
- Go To The Forums — Another option is to find the online communities where your target market hangs out. Go to Quora or Reddit and look for experts talking about the relevant subject matter. When you find terms or phrases you don’t understand, Google them to figure out what they mean and how they’re used.
- Read Expert Articles — Look for the publications that your target market reads and go read some of their more popular articles. Again, look up terms or phrases when you don’t understand them.
Every niche has its own way of speaking.
You can think of it sort of as its own secret dialect.
In fact, this dialect is often so unique that people outside the target market don’t fully understand it.
Take OmniDrip, for example, a product in the real estate investing niche created by a friend of mine. Here’s the top of his landing page…
If you’re not a real estate investor, then you’re probably not exactly sure what he’s offering or why it’s valuable…
But that’s the point.
He’s speaking the language of real estate investors.
If you as the copywriter for the landing page speak in the dialect of your target market, then you’re going to build a ton of rapport and trust.
A good litmus test for whether or not you’ve nailed the language on your landing page is to give it to someone in the niche and ask them what they think and if they think it’s a product that is appealing to them.
3. Use Curiosity in Your Headline
If you’ve spent much time studying copywriting, then you’ve probably heard — ad nauseam — that the headline is the most important part of a landing page.
But those same articles often fail to give practical advice on how to craft a headline that serves its purpose.
So let’s do that here.
The famous copywriter Joseph Sugarman once said, “The sole purpose of the first sentence in an advertisement is to get you to read the second sentence.”
You could think of “the first sentence” as the headline.
There’s only one caveat I’d add to that.
The sole purpose of your headline is to get the right people (i.e. your target market) to read your second sentence.
The most powerful emotional tool you have for doing that is curiosity.
You don’t want just anyone to keep reading. You only want your target market to keep reading. That’s important because anyone could write a ridiculous headline (“Win $10 million now!”) that keeps people reading. Your job as the copywriter is to write a headline that only keeps the right people reading.
Here’s an example…
You’ve got to balance curiosity with relevance.
Your headline should create massive curiosity ONLY in your target market… in fact, if you show your headline to someone who isn’t in your target market and they want to keep reading then your headline is too vague and not specific enough.
For example, if the average person went to our Traffic Secrets page and read the headline, they wouldn’t care at all.
But if an online entrepreneur (our target market) went to that page, it’d instantly make them curious to learn more.
This is what I’m talking about.
You want to build curiosity. But only for the right group of people.
How do you do that?
Here are two simple headline templates you can steal that work like a charm (with examples)…
- How To [Big Promise] Using [Unique Mechanism]
- How to Get Unlimited Website Traffic Using My T.R.A.C.K. System
- How To [Big Promise] Without [Common Solutions]
- How To Lose 100 Pounds Without Watching What You Eat
As you can see, the main recipe for crafting a curiosity-inducing headline is a big promise mixed with something interesting or unusual — such as a promise to accomplish a goal without facing the most common challenge or a mention of the name of your system (which should be new and unusual).
4. Use the Hook, Story, Offer Method
Ever sit down to write copy and just… get stuck?
The blank page can be a real devil.
Where do you start? How do you get people reading and keep them reading while also talking about your offer?
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some sort of systematic way to write copy that worked every time?
Well, there is.
We call it “Hook, Story, Offer”. Check out the video below.
The idea is to follow these steps for every sales process (ad copy, landing page copy, video scripts, etc.)…
Hook (Emotion) — It’d be nice if people gave you their attention for free, but they won’t. You’ve got to earn it. And you can earn it by hooking them with curiosity (see our last point in this article!). With your headline, the only goal is to capture your target market’s attention.
Story (Emotion) — Capturing people’s attention might be nice, but it’s not enough. You’ve got to keep their attention. The easiest way to do that is by telling a compelling story.
This story should be relatable to your dream customers, easy to read, and should contain the traditional elements of a great story: character, conflict, adversity, triumph, and resolution. The story could be about you or it could be about one of your past customers who got staggering results.
The key to a great story is to not rush too fast… but to also only include the elements that make the story better.
Offer (Logic & Fear) — If you’ve done your job right, you’ll have hooked your reader and told them a compelling story. The story should seamlessly lead into the product or service that you’re going to offer (i.e. “And then Joe discovered [YOUR PRODUCT]…”).
From there, it’s about building up your offer to be so good that people can’t resist. Discuss in vivid detail the results they can expect if they sign up, the bonuses they’ll receive, and the mind-blowing value. Then add urgency or scarcity to beat people’s natural urge to procrastinate.
Let’s check out a real-world example of what this flow looks like.
Here’s the landing page for our Copywriting Secrets playbook (which you should go snag by the way)…
That headline builds curiosity, creates emotion, and tells the target market that they’re in the right place.
From there, you want to dive right into the story. Here’s a glimpse of what that looks like…
Notice how his story explains the success he stumbled upon? Also notice the empathy and humility, how it credits his achievement with luck rather than skill?
That’s really important.
If people feel like you’re just special (rather than your process being what’s special), they’re not going to buy. They have to believe that you (or whoever your story’s hero is) are just like them… and that they therefore can achieve the same results by using the same process.
Here’s how he transitions to his offer…
Compelling, right?
The person has nothing to lose and lots to gain… that’s how you want your dream customer to feel when they’re reading your ads. “Well shoot… I’ve just got to click.”
At ClickFunnels, we use the Hook, Story, Offer format every time that we write copy for ads, webinars, landing pages, and sales funnels.
It works extremely well.
Don’t believe us?
Try it for yourself!
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5. Add a Dash of Urgency
People are procrastinators.
We all would prefer to put off today what could be done tomorrow.
And that’s why, for good reason, virtually every copywriting guide you read on the internet is going to talk about urgency and scarcity.
They’re a critical part of the recipe for a high-converting copy.
You’ll see a dash of urgency on most of our landing pages here at ClickFunnels. For example…
But how do you add urgency or scarcity to your landing page?
Here are some ideas:
- Offer a limited-time discount
- Set a time limit before the offer expires (“48 hours only!”)
- Give away something special that won’t be available after a specific date
- Limit the number of products that are available
- Use a countdown timer
6. Use Social Proof
No one wants to be the first. We’re all looking for validation.
That’s why social proof is such an effective tool. It helps to show potential customers that other people have already bought and benefited from what you’re offering.
Just take a look at these stats…
- 87% of buying decisions begin with research conducted online before the purchase is made.
- The average consumer reads 10 online reviews before making a purchase decision.
- 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- 82% of Americans say they seek recommendations from friends and family before making a purchase.
- 63% of consumers need to hear company claims 3-5x before they actually believe them.
Clearly, social proof is important.
It shows people that your product or service does what it says it does and they don’t just have to take your word for it.
Here are some different creative ways you can add social proof to your landing page:
- Feature customer reviews and testimonials
- Show off your awards, certifications, or press coverage
- Include media logos or publications you’ve been mentioned in
- Share the number of users or customers you’ve acquired
- Add a photo of people using your product or service
- Add video case studies to the page
7. Create Open Loops
Whew!
You’ve come a long way.
You’re near to the end of this article. But if you stick with me for just a few minutes longer, I’m going to show you the most POWERFUL WAY I know to keep someone’s attention.
I call them “open loops”.
And I just created one.
How?
By promising that if you stick with me for a few more minutes, I’ll show you the most powerful way I know of keeping someone’s attention.
You’ll see these a lot in YouTube videos.
For example, watch the first few seconds of this video…
Trevor Mauch says…
- “Do you want more motivated house seller leads as a real estate investor or a real estate agent? Well, we’re going to show you a different way to do it than everyone else is doing it that actually adds more predictability and more sustained results.”
See the open loop?
If you want what he’s offering, you’ve got to keep watching to find out.
I do this a lot on the landing pages I put together as well. Can you find the open loop?
Now… every time you create an open loop, imagine that you start a timer.
You’ve got a certain window of time to talk to people where they’re sticking around and paying attention in anticipation of what you promised to give them, the length of which depends on how enticing your promise was.
If I told you I was going to give you a million dollars if you read every word on this page… of course, you’d do it.
That’s an extreme example but it illustrates the point.
People will stick with you only so long as you…
- Have something they want
And they…
- Trust you to give it to them
It’s like dangling a carrot in front of a horse.
This means that every time you close a loop and give them what you promised, you need to open a new loop if you want them to stick with you longer.
It also means that you should be very aware of the ticking timer. If people lose trust or start to doubt that you’re going to give them what they want… they’re going to leave.
It’s often a good idea — in your copy, in your webinars, and on your sales pages — to increase people’s motivation to stick around by opening multiple loops.
The more enticing loops you have open, the more motivated people will be to stick around.
So tell people what you’re going to give them… then use the time in between to tell stories, build rapport, and create emotion.
8. Think Through the Objections
Wouldn’t it be great if people just bought your stuff without asking questions?
Well…
As it turns out, people have a LOT of questions.
Not just questions about how your product/service works (in fact, those are typically the least important objections)…
… but objections about if they actually need what you’re offering if they should trust you or not, whether your product/service is really worth it…
A big part of copywriting is anticipating and addressing those objections.
First, set aside time to brainstorm all of the objections you imagine your dream customers having. Reframe those objections into questions (so “I don’t trust you” might become “Why should I trust you?”). Here are some common ones…
- Why should I trust you?
- Why is YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE better than other ones?
- Why do I need your product/service?
- Why does it cost so much?
- Why do I need to buy it right this second?
- What bad thing will happen if I don’t buy?
- Why should I risk my hard-earned money on your product/service?
Here’s what I can tell you for sure…
If you don’t have answers to every single one of those questions — really good answers… then your conversion rate is going to suffer.
Humans are risk-averse.
They don’t want to be your test subjects. They want to know that your thing works, that it’s going to help them, that they’re getting a good deal, and that you’re worthy of their trust.
To give you an example of what this looks like in the real world, let’s take some of the questions above and see how they’re answered by copy from Bryan Ward’s fitness program…
- Why should I trust you?
- “My name’s Bryan Ward. I’m a husband, a father of four, an Inc. 500 entrepreneur, founder of Third Way Man, and former sufferer of debilitating low energy.”
- Why is YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE better than other ones?
- “In this course, I show you how to use Ancestral Stacks to unlock primal energy so you can set and crush big goals again… WITHOUT resorting to dangerous drugs, stimulants, or TRT. It takes about 10 minutes a day and is a total game-changer for any man who wants more energy, drive, and vitality.”
- Why do I need your product/service?
- “If you want a simple, natural way to increase your energy levels… If ancestral living resonates with you… If you’re teachable and hungry for change… Then this thing’s gonna blow your mind because you’re EXACTLY who I made it for.”
- Why does it cost so much?
- “I know men who drop thousands of dollars on health retreats… Thousands on TRT pellets each year… Thousands on ayahuasca trips to Peru, and more. Why do they do it? Because when it comes to breaking the Male Doom Cycle and getting your fire back… no price is too high. So when you find something 100% safe and natural… a solution with a nearly 200,000 year track record that works in just 10 minutes a day… You don’t blink, and you don’t quibble on price: You pay almost anything because the value is astronomically high. That being said, I’m not going to charge thousands of dollars for this course.”
- Why do I need to buy it right this second?
- “The fact you’ve read this far tells me you KNOW this course can help and are ready to put it to work in your life. There’s nothing better than a READY and TEACHABLE student. So even though this course is officially closed, I’ve gone ahead and re-opened it for you (twenty-five minutes only). What’s more, I’m giving it to you NOT for the $5,000+ I probably should be charging… …but for the same introductory pricing I offered on the very first launch.”
- What bad thing will happen if I don’t buy?
- “So for the sake of your family… For the sake of the bigger, bolder life you could be living… …take this small step, pull the trigger, and let me help you unlock primal energy in your life now.”
- Why should I risk my hard-earned money on your product/service?
- “If you don’t like the course for ANY reason, just send my support team an email within 90 days of purchase and we’ll immediately issue you a prompt and courteous refund.”
To be clear, this is just a snapshot lonnggg sales page.
But it gives you an idea of how an expert copywriter addresses common objections within his copy (without just using an FAQ).
Final Thoughts
There you have it.
If you study these eight tips and really try to apply them to your landing page, you’ll have a very good chance of writing copy that converts well.
You’ll want to test, of course, to get the optimal message and to make sure your visitors are reacting positively.
But as long as you use these tips, you’ll have a solid foundation for conversion-optimized copywriting. Click below for some of our top copywriting secrets!